Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh feels he may have found a chink in the armour of batting dynamo Sanath Jayasuriya as India gears up to take on Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament on Sunday.
"When Sanath sweeps he turns his eyes away, which is an encouraging sight to me," said Harbhajan.
"It is not the sweep of a Matthew Hayden, who is looking at the ball while executing such strokes," said the bowler, who put up a decent show against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, in a match that India went on to win by four runs.
The Sri Lankan batting powerhouse is causing sleepless nights to Indian bowlers after his majestic 130 in that Super League match. An encore from the left-hander on Sunday would surely put India on the mat in the final.
"I will have five fielders on the on-side for him -- one at short fine leg, the other at deep fine leg, one fielder right in front of the square leg umpire, the fourth one at deep midwicket and the fifth at mid-on, drawn a little inside the right," said Harbhajan, hopeful that an uppish sweep from the left-hander could end up in any one of these fielder's hands.
While Harbhajan has decided to feed Jayasuriya on the sweep stroke, he also has decided he would stick to over-the-wicket approach in his bowling strides.
"I would not bowl round-the-wicket to him. He has such a brilliant tap shot which is defensive in nature but still goes for a four.
"By bowling over the wicket I would also not be giving him room for his strokes. He is unstoppable when he gets room to play his shots," said the 'Turbanator'.
Harbhajan is encouraged by his dismissal of Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu in Tuesday's match.
"I really enjoyed that success against Marvan. For me, it was my ball of the tournament. He came forward to me, was beaten in the flight and picked up by Yuvraj Singh in front of square leg umpire."
Harbhajan and Yuvraj, close buddies and team-mates for home state Punjab, have developed a special rapport in this Asia Cup. The position in front of the square leg umpire is increasingly becoming regular for Yuvraj when Harbhajan is bowling.
"It caused the dismissal of Inzamam in last Sunday's game.
"When Inzi sweeps, he doesn't hit it for singles. He likes to hit it hard and for fours. The trick was to bowl him flatter deliveries for sweep. This way his sweeps would not have gone over the ring fielders. Yuvraj caught him before the shot could elevate and elude him.
"The funny thing is I kept telling Yuvraj to watch out for it two overs before Inzamam was dismissed. We could have got Shoaib Malik to a similar stroke but Yuvraj could not react to it in time."
Though Harbhajan has bowled well in this tournament and got key wickets, he feels he could have done better.
"Since I am returning to international cricket, I am a bit cautious in my approach. I just want to stick to the basics. I feel I didn't bowl as well against Pakistan as I could have. When I came back for my second spell, I gave two or three free hits to the batsmen."
India were beaten by 59 runs in the Super League match against Pakistan on Sunday but still managed to get a bonus point, which eventually cost Pakistan a place in the final.
Harbhajan is feeling his way into international cricket after being on the sidelines for eight months because of a finger injury.
"I am now doing things which I never bothered about in my pre-injury phase of career. I now regularly give it (finger) ice-treatment once the match is over. I have three different equipments to strengthen my bowling fingers. The one is a Plaster-of-Paris kind of stuff with which I squeeze to strengthen my fingers from the inside.
"Then there is a loop which I tie to two fingers and expand it to strengthen my fingers from the outside. Then there is a ball which I keep sponging."
Harbhajan though finds it difficult to stop himself from twirling the ball at the start of his run-up.
"I used to twirl the ball four times at the start of my run-up. It meant I was putting the pressure of five deliveries on my fingers for just one ball. I now consciously avoid it. Sometimes when the urge is irresistible, I turn it backwards, a kind of leg-spinner's action."
